Aussies awarded Dans in Japan Nearly 2000 Kyokushin karateka competed in the International Karate Organisation (IKO) Kyokushinkaikan’s sixth World Weight Category and International Karate Friendship Tournament in Japan — but only two attendees, both Australians, received 7th Dan promotions. Held at the Tokyo Taiikukan in April, the event included a special awards presentation, during which IKO director Kancho Shokei Matsui presented the rare 7th Dan grades to Shihan Trevor Tockar and Shihan Nik Cujic. Both men are Australian branch chiefs of the IKO, with Shihan Cujic also being the South Pacific regional representative. Shihan Cujic has been practising karate for 50 years and was Australia’s first full-contact karate champion at heavyweight, as well as the open-weight grand champion, winning both titles in 1977. Kyokushin founder Sosai Mas Oyama personally promoted Cujic to 2nd Dan in recognition of his achievement. Cujic was also selected to represent Australia at the World Tournaments in 1975, 1979 and 1984, but due to injury he only fought in the 1984 event before retiring from competition. He has since coached many of his students to state and national titles as well as international representation — including his son, Steven, who has won several Australian Open
Championships and trained in Japan for more than five years before winning the All Japan Open heavyweight title in 2014. Sensei Steven was recently promoted to 4th Dan and Shihan Cujic’s wife, Joy, also a 4th Dan, is one of the highest ranked female karateka in the IKO. The Cujic family operates several dojos in Australia, with the main one located in Caringbah, New South Wales. Shihan Tockar has been training in Kyokushin for 48 years and competed at national and international level in both allstyles karate and full-contact Kyokushin between 1969 and 1982 in his native South Africa. He was in the South African team at the first World Open Karate Tournament in Tokyo in 1975 and later coached the team from 1979 until his immigration to Australia in 2001. Tockar was promoted to 5th Dan by Sosai Mas Oyama in 1981 and 14 years later was awarded his 6th Dan by Kancho Matsui. As chief instructor of North Bondi Kyokushin, Shihan Tockar has coached his two sons, Anthony and David, to Australian titles and to compete internationally. The Aussie shihans were presented with their 7th Dans in front of family members and a large group of students who had travelled from Australia to attend the ceremony.
Shihans Cujic (left) and Tockar after being awarded their 7th Dans
Karate fighters battle in Bendigo from which a standout was Loong Fu Pai (freestyle) stylist Emma Tui Whatarau, whose excellent technique won her the Open Kata title against strong competition. In the afternoon, the standout full-contact fights included a very strong Female Open Middleweight final that saw Lisa West take a heard-earned victory over Camilla Barker, while the Female Open Heavyweight final saw Bree Ward and Rebecca Weller fight hammerand-tongs for the duration of their spirited bout, with Ward taking the win. In the Open Male Lightweight final, Andrew Hume-Laver was victorious in a hard-fought match with John Bougias, while the Open Middleweight finalists put on a very technical fight before international representative Mathew Ah Chow won by wazari (half-point for a stunning blow) over a very game and much-improved Zac Mawson. The last fight saw strong kickboxer Masoud Kashami come out with all guns blazing against Alexander Kocic, landing hard body punches and thigh kicks to good effect, when suddenly Kocic (another international
representative) connected with a fightstopping round kick to the head, scoring an ippon (full-point victory) and the title. During the event, a special presentation was made to recognise two of Australia’s Kyokushin pioneers, Hanshi Ivan Zavetchanos and Hanshi Eddie Emin. Zavetchanos, 9th Dan judo, trained at Kodokan Judo headquarters in Japan with Kyokushin founder Sosai Mas Oyama and, in the 1960s, he brought Shigeo Kato to Australia to promote Kyokushin. Emin, 9th Dan, is a pioneer with more than 50 years’ experience and taught many of today’s Kyokushin instructors.
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More than 200 competitors did battle at the annual Victorian Kyokushin Karate Championships, which was held for the first time in Bendigo, Central Victoria, on 2 April. Held at the Bendigo Events and Exhibition Centre, the tournament featured traditional Kyokushin ‘knockdown’ full-contact fights (no gloves, but no punching to the head) as well as kata and continuous non-contact sparring divisions. Attracting a diverse range of competitors and styles, the event was held under the auspices of three major full-contact karate organisations — Shinkyokushin under Shihan Peter Volke, Melbourne Kyokushin Karate under Shihan George Kolovos, and Kyokushinkaikan, directed by Shihan Steve Hardy and Shihan Barry Johnston — with assistance from local instructor Sempai Tamara Thomson. The Bendigo community also got behind it, with strong support from the City of Greater Bendigo and Mayor Cr Margaret O’Rourke, along with sponsors Bendigo Bank and Barry Plant Bendigo. The morning session consisted of continuous non-contact and kata competition,
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